The case of the vanishing corpse

Andrew Tillet, Sara Wiggins & Inspector Wyatt #2

by Robert Newman

When Andrew returns to London from boarding school, he becomes embroiled in several mysteries involving stolen jewels and the disappearance of a corpse after a brutal murder.

Genres: Mystery, Historical

221 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Mr. Newman, who was born in Manhattan, began his career as a writer for radio shows. In 1944, he was in charge of the radio portion of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's re-election campaign. He also wrote ''Search for Tomorrow'' and ''Peyton Place'' episodes for television.

From 1973 to 1988, he wrote books for young people, including ''The Case of the Baker Street Irregular,'' published by Atheneum in 1978, and many novels.

Reviews

[The Marvelous Ms. Kaia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book to read if you want a clean mystery(simple with a really good plot). This is pretty old, and it was by accident how I got it, but now I am glad I did, because I love this book. Totally reccomend it, and don’t let how old it is affect your reason for reading it(I was not really into it when I saw it because of how old it looked-mistake!)

[Schuyler · Rating 3 out of 5]

So fun to read about Andrew and Sarah and Wyatt again. The climax isn't much to write home about, but it's a fun middle-grade vintage mystery. Also kudos for having a cool mom who loves seeing her kids go on adventures.

[Katina stewart · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another fun romp with one of Sherlock's irregulars...though be warned Sherlock does not appear in this book.

[Roderick · Rating 2 out of 5]

adequate (with a nice beginning: I love that Andrew remains humble, polite, & grateful, not acting superior to Sara or her mother)

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

My son and I recently began reading this book to my 7 year old grandsons. He remembered reading this author as an elementary school student, intrigued by Sherlock Holmes working with street urchins to solve crimes. The plot has many layers, and the writing matches some of the best mystery writing for adults. The back story was developed in the first book of this series, “The Case of the Baker Street Irregular,” which I have yet to read, but the reader easily discovers all that she needs to learn about Andrew and his mother, Verna Tillett, the famous British actress, and Sara and her mother, Mrs. Wiggins, and Fred. I needed to read with a dictionary handy which only added to my enjoyment (some Cockney slang but most of the words unfamiliar to me were reflective of the time period in London.) Missing bodies, stolen jewelry, midnight wanderings in the streets of London, “wild west” chases after the bad guys, and a plot that really mystified me until the end, this is a book that will interest young readers and as importantly, is such intelligent writing for those readers (and me.)

On another note, the author had a successful and diverse career; he wrote most of his books for young readers from 1973 to 1988, and died at the age of 89 in 1988.

[C.O. Bonham · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good Sequel to The Case of the Baker Street Irregular.

In this book Andrew Tillet is Home from bording school to visit his mom and Sara. While at home a strange series of events occur. First a young woman goes missing in his nieghborhood and than Jewls are stolen from his mothers dressing room next Andrew and Sara wittness a murder on their street and worse yet when they try to tell the police the body is nowhere to be found.

Very exciting read and nice complex mystery to solve but sadly Sherlock Holmes does not appear in this novel. Instead we are introduced to a bright young constable with Scotland Yard. His Name is Peter Wyatt and he is every bit as good as Holmes maybe better due to his higher moral standards.

I applaude Robert Newman for creating his own detective for the series instead of continuing to use Sherlock. I look forward to reding more in this series. I only regret not knowing about it sooner.

[Hemavathy DM Suppiah-Devi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Splendid book. We meet Andrew and the gang one year after the events of the Baker Street irregulars. Andrew has reconciled with his mother although he now spends term time at an exclusive boarding school in the country, and Sara is in an exclusive girls school in London. But holidays are spent together live together in a new house Verna has bought on an exclusive lane in the city. The mystery begins when jewels that had been lent to Verna are stolen from the house, and three more jewel thefts follow in quick succession. Holmes is not around this time, but the boy and girl detective meet a new friend, Constable Wyatt who proves to be just as able. This is a clean, fun story. The plot is gripping and it makes fora good solid read. Oh, and George Bernard Shaw makes a cameo. First-rate!

[Ann DiMaio · Rating 2 out of 5]

Michael read this book for an assignment for school, so i decided to read it at the same time so we could discuss it.